De coupes de cheveux et fleurit
by Phantasmik
Summary: Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like. AxelMarluxia, AU


De coupes de cheveux et fleurit

By: Hiza-chan

Dedication: This goes out to my girlfriend, who gave me the prompt forever ago.

XxX

_Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like. - Author Unknown_

XxX

Marluxia was a man of many talents. He could garden, he could sing, he could dance, he could flirt his way out of a parking ticket. However, one thing that Marluxia was not was a hairdresser. Not even remotely. For all of the man's narcissism he could not for the life of him make his hair go the way he wanted it to. He had tried everything, a million and one hair products, at least seventeen straighteners, even some curling irons.

Yes, Marluxia had crossed his breaking point, and now stood before the tall and imposing building that loomed darkly over him, glancing incredulously between the piece of paper and the dark building.

Larxene, he decided, must be mad. Insane, completely off her rocker. She was probably sitting comfortably in her apartment now, snickering at Marluxia's dilemma with a bowl of popcorn by her side and one of those incredibly sadistic books in her hands.

He almost turned and left, really he did, before a cheerful man bounced outside with a disturbingly wide grin nearly breaking his face wide open.

"Welcome to FDF! I noticed that you weren't coming inside so I figured I'd come out here and greet you! My name's Demyx and believe it or not this is a hair salon. I told the manager not to buy it- or at least PAINT it or something, yanno? But he said he didn't wanna, so I told him it would scare of the customers so now _everytime_ a customer comes by I have to come out HERE to greet him or her, all cause of this stupid old building!"

And with that he took a deep breath and kicked the building. His expression changed from one of excited annoyance to one of pain in less than five seconds and he let out the _girliest_ cry of pain that Marluxia had ever heard and began hopping around on one foot, clutching the other with both hands. The boy really couldn't have been that much of an idiot, could he? Kicking a building for no reason?

Another boy came out of the building, bright blue eyes incredulous as he stared at this_ Demyx_ as if he had grown two more heads. His silence did not last long however as he marched over to the other boy and gripped his sleeve, pulling him close.

"What in the world are you doing?" he hissed, "Axel told you to greet the man, not scare him off!"

Ripping himself away from Demyx, who was quivering from the reprimand, the boy turned another jaw cracking grin on Marluxia and proceeded to babble on about how very sorry he was and that Demyx was new here.

All Marluxia could do was stare and wonder how someone's smile could possibly get that big as the smaller boy dragged him inside by the sleeve of his new leather coat that Larxene had managed to talk him into wearing.

The boy, Sora, set him down in a classy chair and kindly asked him if he wanted anything to drink. When he declined the boy grinned again and flounced off, promising him that his stylist would be out in a moment.

Marluxia shook his head and plucked a new glossy magazine off of the stack waiting for him on the stylish ebony coffee table. Upon closer inspection he found ivy etched into the surface of the table in a charming little pattern that curled this way and that as if it had life of its own. He smiled down at the nymphs dancing along the ivy and followed their path with his finger to their destination.

So engrossed was he with his task that he didn't even notice the footfalls of his amused stylist until the man cleared his throat. Marluxia jumped, eyes wide, and retracted his hand, sitting back to glare at the man.

This man… was not the stylist he had expected to say the least. The man's brilliant red hair seemed to defy gravity with a vengeance and stuck up in spikes that seemed more suited for a concert than his job. Honestly, the man's job was to do people's hair, the least he could do was not terrify them with such a vibrant hairstyle.

The man smirked at him, one bright red eyebrow raised in amusement as the younger man gawked at his insane choice of hairstyle.

The man turned his back on the other man and motioned for Marluxia to follow him.

Marluxia did so hesitantly, creeping slowly to his feet and following the man into the bowels of the fearsome salon with an expression vaguely similar to one facing death.

The man turned to glance at the younger man with amusement, the corner of his mouth curving up into an amused smirk before turning again.

"What?"

The hair dresser merely grinned and shook his head.

"The name's Axel, and I'll be your hairdresser. Memorize the name, would you? I'm sure that once you've come to me once you'll keep on coming."

Marluxia fought his urge to glare and huffed, turning away from the other man.

"You sure are cocky aren't you, we haven't even reached the sinks yet."

The redhead turned so that he was walking backwards and tapped a finger to his temple shooting one of those unnervingly large smiles at him.

"I just know these things. Trust me, memorize my name, for I shall do great things with you."

Marluxia snorted, contemplating turning around and just leaving, saving his money and his hair was always a good idea, and honestly, he really didn't want to be around when this psycho got a pair of scissors in his hands.

Before he could turn tail and run though, the older man stopped beside a large black sink and a plastic reclining chair. Marluxia sat gingerly, lowering his head into the sink. Axel clucked at him and lifted him back up momentarily, long enough to pull Marluxia's hair free of the simple pink ribbon that held the long mane back before setting him down again, fingers gentle against the nape of the man's neck as he brushed the hair into the sink.

Axel was surprisingly gentle, Marluxia noticed, as a heady floral scent filled the air and the tangled locks were saturated with warm water and shampoo. Marluxia tried not to give a quiet hum of pleasure as the other man kneaded his scalp with skilled hands, he really did.

Axel chuckled at his client and reached for the conditioner.

XxX

The hair wash was over much too quickly and Marluxia found himself seated before a large mirror, busy glaring daggers at his towel wrapped hair. Axel bustled around behind him, grabbing his hair kit and talking idly to a nearby hair dresser, who trimmed his clients shoulder length brown hair with a bored look.

Axel returned, taking the hair down from the towel and letting the wet hair dangle around his clients neck as he stood back to scrutinize the other's hair.

He made a soft noise and turned his gaze to Marluxia's in the mirror.

"Is there anything in particular you want done?" he asked, biting the end of his comb as he thought.

"Not really, make sure it's presentable, make sure I'll be able to tend to it, I don't care, go crazy." He paused, eyeing the frightening glint in the other man's eyes before amending that.

"Just… please don't repeat your own hairstyle, will you?"

The glint left the man's eyes and his shoulders slumped in slight disappointment. It took several moments of blank staring at the hair before the glint returned, this time slightly subdued.

He shot the man a slight smile and reached for his scissors.

Marluxia tried his hardest not to cry.

XxX

The end result was actually quite pleasing. Axel stood back and admired his handiwork, pride clearly visible in his eyes as he fawned over the now tame locks of hair. The hair fell just below his shoulders cascading down the man's neck in gorgeous layers that curved slightly outwards at the ends, a result of course, of the straightener steaming in Axel's hand.

Marluxia simply stared, disbelief evident in his gaze.

Axel leaned down gently and whispered teasingly, "Yes, that is you darling."

Marluxia seemed to jerk out of his stupor then and glared at the man, pushing him away, an unmistakable splash of red appearing across the bridge of his nose.

"So? What do you think?"

Marluxia's first instinct was to tell the other man that he hated it, just out of spite, but the pride that Axel was directing at his new hair made him relent and give in with a small smile, directing a compliment at the tattooed redhead.

Axel's grin was blinding.

XxX

When he stepped into his small apartment Larxene glanced up from her place on the couch, raising a hand in greeting, and returning to her book. Her eyebrows scrunched together in a frown as she looked back up at him and stared. She shook her head and turned back to her book with a sigh.

"It looks nice."

Oh ye of little words. Thank ye for your almighty words of wisdom.

"Larxene?"

"Yes?"

"Get out of my house."

XxX

Marluxia saw Axel the next week. The hair stylist was wearing large Hollywood style sunglasses and lazing around the park, laid back across a bench with his boots dangling over the end. He debated leaving, just walking away and finishing his weekly Sunday shopping. Marluxia snorted as the man shifted, pulling up his sunglasses to glance at the figure standing to his left, a grocery bag perched on a well sculpted hip.

"Yo, beautiful. That style workin out for ya?" he asked, sitting up and yawning widely at the other man.

Marluxia's hand went to his hair automatically, stroking the locks with a light flush spreading across his cheeks. He nodded at the other man and the idle talk was ended abruptly as Axel stood and stretched, shirt riding up to give the other a nice view of tanned skin, muscle subtly rippling under the lean surface. Decision made, Marluxia made his way over to the other man who shot him that same blinding grin that he had a week ago.

Sunday's wandering wasn't quite so boring then.

XxX

By the time Marluxia came in for his next hair cut Axel and he were rather acquainted with each other, greeting each other with huge grins and small tentative smiles, fragile smiles that had taken months of encouragement to produce on a daily basis. Fragile smiles, but beautiful despite the frailty.

If anyone noticed that the men left with seven digits scrawled across the back of his hand then they didn't show it.

XxX

The phone was cold against his ear, Marluxia noted distantly, fingers drumming nervously against the kitchen table as he concentrated on the annoying trills of the phone sending the call. There was a soft click and an amused tone lilted out through the receiver.

"Yo, whats up?"

Marluxia rolled his eyes and drummed his nails faster against the table, tapping a foot against the floor impatiently.

"Is that really any way to answer the phone?" he asked, examining his nails with a furrowed brow before turning an impatient gaze on the wall clock.

"Naw, I just thought I'd try a little something different. After all, it's not every day that a particularly gorgeous and unattached customer calls me up on my private line."

…He was almost positive that that was a grin he could feel radiating through the phone.

"How did you know it was me?"

"I know all my customer's numbers, remember when Demyx asked for your number while you were scheduling your first appointment?"

Marluxia flushed darkly, casting a suspicious gaze around the room as if he were sure that someone was going to jump out from behind the couch with a shout of 'surprise' before snapping a picture of the blushing man.

"You there?"

"Yeah…"

"So… what exactly did ya want?"

This time Marluxia flushed even darker, scrambling for a decent sounding way to ask someone out without embarrassing himself.

"So umm… there's this cafe that just opened up near by and I wanted to know if you'd like to get some lunch with me?" he asked, twirling the phone cord around two dainty fingers and biting his lip.

A short silence then a soft, but pleased, "I'd love to."

His heart felt like it was trying to win a marathon, fingers twitching with a mixture of excitement and nervousness and vigorously scrubbing at a smudge of dirt on the table as soon as his eye's located the spot.

"Is six good for you?"

Marluxia eyed the clock, raised an eyebrow at the time and crossed his legs.

"…That's not lunch." He spoke, eyebrows raised at the man on the other side of the phone.

"Ya, well I'm really hungry, _now_, why wait for tomorrow?" the other man teased.

"Fine, I'll be there. You keep me waiting and I swear I'll throttle you."

His only response was a warm chuckle and the small click of the line going dead.

XxX

Fifteen minutes later Marluxia was striding towards the other man, plucking nervously at the pink T-shirt he'd dug out from his closet and the faded denims with holes in their knees. Larxene had laughed herself silly when he had shown her his clothes, laughing and pointing at the rumpled pink shirt and the holey jeans, telling him that he looked like a college boy.

Axel didn't seem to care, getting to his feet and extinguishing his cigarette against the wall, casually flinging it to the side, brushing off his hands on a pair of expensive looking slacks and rolling up the unbuttoned dress shirt.

He seemed to have just gotten off of work.

Axel laughed good naturedly and upon reaching Marluxia flung an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.

Marluxia felt heat flare in his cheeks and tried to fight down the blush angrily.

"What are you doing?" he asked hesitantly, trying not to notice the heat of the other man's body seeping through his shirt as if it wasn't even there.

Axel chuckled, brushing a thumb against Marluxia's jaw and winking, pulling the other man even closer and ruffling his hair.

"Well, this is a date isn't it?"

Marluxia's silence spoke volumes.

He was silent until they reached a small booth in the corner of the café, only asking for the menu to hide his flushed face behind.

"My name is Riku, welcome to Café Destiny, is there anything I can get you two to drink?"

Axel smiled and winked at the waiter flirtatiously.

"I'll have a triple chocolate latte, heavy on the cream and sugar for the drink, but I'll take you for dessert I think."

The boy raised an eyebrow at him and shook his head, scribbling the order down on his notepad.

"I don't believe your boyfriend would appreciate that too much, sir, now sir, what may I get _you_ to drink?" he said, turning his attention to the other male.

Axel laughed and Marluxia just stared.

"Sir, your order?" the waiter asked, amusement beginning to spark in aquamarine eyes.

"I'll have the Columbian roast I think," Marluxia muttered, glancing up at the boy with a frown on his face but an undeniable spark of laughter in his eyes.

Riku nodded and winked once at Marluxia, shaking his head as if he understood the man's dilemma perfectly, and strolled towards the kitchen, stopping once to speak to a small familiar brunette standing near the kitchens.

The place is pretty nice actually. The light is low and warm and it's decorated in warm colors that give the place an overwhelming homey feeling. The kind of feeling that the smell of homemade apple pie and the laughter of friends and family brings. It's a nice feeling, and the place smells like coffee and hazelnut.

He doesn't even notice that Axel is talking to him until the other man is so close that he can smell Axel's cologne. He blinks at the other man curiously, and when the silence passes they just sit there, chatting idly until their coffee arrives, and with it a hassled silver haired waiter that gathers the orders quickly before hurrying back into the kitchen.

Even an hour later, as they're finishing up the last of the dessert and hurrying out into the downpour that must have started while they were inside, Marluxia still finds himself laughing.

XxX

When Marluxia wakes up with a bed full of a very naked Axel, he is rather confused, afterall he has never really been a morning person and his mind is unusually groggy. He remembers rain, hair gel, and kissing. A sharp pain shooting up his backside as he attempts to slide from the bed without disturbing the sleeping red head provides the rest.

He almost can't help the blush that rises to his cheeks.

X

X

X

A/N: There's a missing scene in here, yanno? But I think I'm gonna write that separately. Yup, totally gonna write it separately. So! What's up? Haven't dropped back over here in awhile have I? But yes, this here was my summer project and I never really got around to posting it. I like it though, despite the overwhelming corniness in some parts it turned out half way descent.

I'm also working on a Riku/Sora story in this universe, so keep an eye or two out for that, k?


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